Jan 4, 2011

Bible and gospel store finds new home in downtown HaywardBy Eric KurhiMercuryNews.com

Hayward, CA – You’ll find more than Bibles at the Nu Revelations Christian bookstore on Foothill Boulevard.

There are the hats and shirts, religiously emblazoned, and other sundry knickknacks of the sort you’d find at a gift shop, although these are of the faith-advocating variety. There’s a lot of music — sheet music for church choirs, and a large selection of gospel CDs.

“Gospel jazz, gospel blues,” said Otis Sanders, who you’ll also often find at the store along with his wife, Penni. “Mostly old-school stuff. We have modern music, but for some reason the blues just has that throwback appeal.”

The Sanders set up shop in the strip mall at City Center Drive last summer. They moved the store from Foothill Square in East Oakland, where they’d been for 23 years, when the main tenants at the site moved out and it began to deteriorate.

“We held on as long as we could, but there wasn’t any foot traffic,” Otis said. “We were looking for a new place, and (the property owner) was really receptive to the business.”

He said sales aren’t “gangbusters,” but they are steady and growing, and there’s reason to be optimistic at the new location.

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